“. . . I told you of my dinner with King Tom,‡ and of my satisfaction with the Crown Prince.§ The latter is really like a young Newfoundland puppy—quite as strong, intelligent and good-natured. . . . At night, Coke was to take me to the honble. House; but . . . we first looked in at Brooks’s, where we found that the whole concern had been knocked up by the Balloon! So many members had run out to see it that Alderman Kit Smith, a furious enemy of the Saints, call’d for the House to be counted. . . . Not forty had remained in it, so all was over! Sefton’s delight in the mischief was unbounded. Brougham had been in bed most of the day on purpose, and had ordered himself to be called at 5 so as to be quite fresh for his reply. Wilberforce had given all his serious
* Afterwards 14th Earl of Derby. † Lord Stanley, afterwards 13th Earl of Derby. The Stanleys hitherto had been consistent Whigs. ‡ Mr. Coke of Holkham, created Earl of Leicester in 1837. § The present Earl of Leicester, born in 1822. |
| 1823-24.] | ROYAL ASCOT. | 77 |
